King of the hill

Rajasthan has a little over a hundred forts and Maharashtra has over 350. Compared to these states, Tamil Nadu does not have much to offer by way of forts, with around 30 such. There are a few that can be visited as a day trip from Chennai; this is one such, even if the 250 km distance is a bit of a stretch for a day trip.

The Ranjankudi Fort was built in the 17th century by a jagirdar of the Nawab of the Carnatic. An oblong structure, it is encircled by a moat (now largely dry) and has fortifications built at 3 different levels. The lowermost is the basic ramparts of the fort and enclosed within it is a large space called pettai which was supposedly the setting for open markets / fairs and also for battles. One such battle was the 1751 Battle of Vallikondah; though it was fought in the fort, it is named for a village in the vicinity. Unsurprisingly, it was a battle between the French and the British, a small piece in the conflicts between them across the globe. The French lost this one; even though they had captured the Ranjankudi Fort, they were unable to access the Kottai medu, the uppermost tier above the pettai. That's where the Nawabs had their private residential quarters - and a swimming pool as well.

This was a strategic location in those times; Trichinopoly was a large city and if one could take control of Ranjankudi, it could be the base from which Trichy could be threatened. This was the main reason for this fort coming up on a hillock where there were only shrines to Siva and Hanuman earlier. The locals have it that there is still a lot of treasure - well, artefacts, at least - to be found inside the fort walls, where they have been stashed away by soldiers and generals who never returned. Maybe that's a story to be made viral, to attract greater numbers to this fort!

Going Dutch

If, as they say, Madharasapatnam was the original name of the city that was once called Madras, what would you imagine Sadurangapattinam was known as? Even though it was not the British who discovered this place, their fellow colonists adapted this town's name, referring to it as Sadras, before settling down to build a fort to protect their factory here.

Even though it was the Dutch who took the lead (after the Portuguese, of course) in building trading settlements along the east coast, they discovered Sadras about a decade after Cogan and Day had set up their factory at Madras. The Sadras Fort was set up in 1648. Compared to Fort St George, this fort at Sadras is a very spartan affair; thin redbricks packed in place with mud seems to have been the default option for the walls of the Sadras Fort and buildings inside it. Very few of those buildings remain standing; those that do seem to have served as warehouses or granaries. There is also a dilapidated elephant mounting (or loading?) station. But for the most part, the space enclosed by the fort's walls is bare and the walls themselves do not look like they could survive a sustained onslaught.

And the fort gate. Unlike Fort St George, with its multiple gates, the Sadras Fort has only one, on the landward side. It is quite easily accessed from the road; the two cannons at the gate remind you it was once a much coveted spot, which moved from Dutch hands to the British in the early 19th century and remained with them until 1947. Today, there are no tourists here. The ASI does a fair job of keeping it the way it is. It is likely that the bulk of the visitors to this fort would be folks who come to the nearby Madras Atomic Power Station, who look up to the two bastions on the seaward side and take the effort to explore the other side!

 

Mountain fort

With Madras becoming the favoured spot of the British in the mid-17th century, towns that were important in an earlier era faded away to being footnotes. One such is Senjee (செஞ்சி, also as Gingee), about 150km from Chennai. Actually, it wasn't much of a town at any time, but a complex fortification built on three hillocks. It is situated close to the intersection of today's NH4 and SH77; that leads me to assume it would have been in a similar position vis-a-vis yesteryears' trade routes. And anyone occupying this would have strategic control of those routes, for sure.

The hillock in the picture is Rajagiri, atop which sits the largest of the Senjee fortifications. There is also a fort at the base of this hillock; one needs to get past that to be able to go up the Rajagiri. Inside the lower fortification are several buildings - a couple of temples, a mosque, a large granary, living quarters for the soldiers and the king (and a huge tank for the elephants to bathe in), a magazine and the "Kalyana Mahal" - no, not necessarily a wedding hall, but that's what you see in the foreground, just inside the fort wall. Kalyana Mahal is a "pleasure pavilion", with a central tank, fountains at all the seven levels, with the open verandahs allowing the breeze to blow in from any side, to be cooled by the fountains.

Though the British apparently called it "Troy of the East", Senjee is still not a significant tourist magnet. That is a shame, really. Maybe the steep trek up the Rajagiri dissuades many from experiencing the fortifications fully. The ASI tries to do its little bits and pieces. But woefully short on budgets, there is only so much they can help with. It is time the citizens contribute - at the very least, by visiting and buying the entrance tickets!